Working+Draft

Tom Miller 10-26-09 Senior Seminar A block Mr. Martin Senior Thesis Rough Draft Golf is known as a sport that reveals character. It tests not only the player’s honesty about their score, but their ability as well. From an ability standpoint golf is considered one of the hardest sports to become good at. A professional golfer spends at least six to seven hours of each day working on his golf game on average (Pepper). Although golf is a totally credible and amazing sport, there is one huge underlying problem with it. That underlying problem is the use of new space age technology in a game that is hundreds of years old. Technology has evolved in the sport of golf since it began and has made the sport much easier, because it has completely changed the skill level in golfers and what they are capable of, making many golfers incomparable. An overview of golf technology is necessary to understand why it has changed the sport so much. One key piece of golf technology is the golf ball. The golf ball is the ball the player hits with the goal of getting into the hole. A golf ball is designed to fly long distances. It is no less than 12/3 inches (4.27 centimeters) in diameter, and weighs no more than 1.6 ounces (45 grams) (Abrahams). The golf ball in recent history has reached its peak in aerodynamic performance and has totally revolutionized the game of golf. A Second piece of golf technology that has changed the sport is the golf club. A set of clubs has four categories: woods, irons, wedges, and a putter. Each category is different, but the basic construction is the same: Each club has a rubber grip for the hands; a shaft, which is usually made of steel or graphite; and a clubhead, usually made of steel, which makes contact with the ball (Abraham). The driver is the biggest wood that you have and hits the ball the farthest; this is usually the club you tee off with. The woods hit the ball far as well to hopefully set your next shot up for an easy shot to the green. The club you use to get on the green is the iron or wedge. Irons were once made of iron, giving them their name, but for years they have been made of steel (Abraham). Irons range from one through nine, nine being the most loft and one being the least loft. More loft gives you less distance and more accuracy, while the less loft gives you more raw distance. Overall these technologies have existed since the beginning of the sport, but have changed immensely over the years. Now, with this general understanding of golf tools and technology it will be easier to understand in depth specific technologies. Firstly, the golf ball has evolved immensely since the beginning. Golf, as we know it, was first played with a leather-covered ball stuffed with goose or chicken feathers. This was called the feathery cube (“Golf ball and Golf history”). This ball was totally inconsistent and inept compared to today’s high flying aerodynamic golf balls. The next model of golf ball that came out was the Gutta ball is 1848, created by Dr. Robert Adams Paterson (“Golf ball and history”). Players soon discovered that after play it was not good to smooth your ball as people were supposed to. They found that the nicks in their ball gave it a truer flight. This led to the new Hand Hammered Gutta. This ball was enhanced with a dimple pattern that went across the entire ball fairly evenly (“Golf ball and history”). But soon even this ball was rendered futile. Golf experts began to see that the hammered dimples on their balls began to fade and that the pattern was not consistent, creating an untrue ball flight. Now a symmetrical bramble pattern was formed that came to be known as “The Bramble ball.” Then soon after this in 1898 Coburn Haskell invented a ball with a rubber texture interior, known as the “Rubber ball” (“Golf ball and history”). This ball stayed at the technological peak for many years, and was thought of as a great piece of technology. Some of the best golfers who ever lived used this ball, yet in today’s world it this ball is totally inferior. On January 1, 1932, standardization of golf ball weight and size was established by the United States Golf Assn. following 1930 standards set by the British Golf Association. for a slightly smaller ball. The weight was set at a maximum of 1.620 oz., and diameter not to be less than 1.680 in. Later after testing apparatus was developed to measure velocity, a maximum velocity of 250 feet per second was added by the USGA (“Golf ball History”). Finally a totally revolutionized ball was created known as the “Modern ball.” This ball is what we use today and is a product of space age technology. It has a silicone and plastic based outside, along with an absolutely perfect dimple pattern to maximize distance and accuracy. This can go probably a hundred yards or more than the early 1800s ball models. This ball could even go a good fifty yards further than the rubber ball made just a half century earlier. With today’s golfers using the modern ball, it is truly not fair to compare them to the great golfers of years past because of a technological difference. In addition, the golf club has also revolutionized the game of golf. Golf clubs began as very basic wood forms, and evolved into what is now titanium, steel, and graphite based forms of clubs. When feathery ball was replaced by the Gutta, new club technology was used. The old woods had concave faces; the new woods had revolutionary convex faces--what we now call "face bulge (Weathers). This concave gave what is known as the gear affect. The gear affect basically reduced slices and hooks dramatically due to the club head design. The toe and heel of the golf head was now angled to help the player keep it straight and increase hang time (Weathers). By the late 1800s hand made clubs no longer existed. Before clubs used to be created by blacksmiths and artisans who were inferior to today’s machinery. Also today’s irons are made of steel and graphite, while before the early 1900s actual iron was used to create these inferior clubs. Also it was not until the 1900s that line and dimple patterns were used on clubs to make them hit the ball better, creating more back spin and ball control. These indentation patterns were not mastered and perfected until the late 1900s as we have them today. Woods were very revolutionized as well. Not only were woods actually made of wood, but their joints were cemented together. These wood designs were totally inferior and created inconsistent shots. Not until the end of World War 1 did club heads begin to be drilled on with screws and more enhanced materials (Weathers). Also the grooves on the face were not used until the 1920s. Overall, drivers and woods become more enhanced every day. New alloys used on many clubs creating incredible ease and distance, much better than old wooden clubs (“Golf Club History”). C ontinuing development of lighter golf clubs with larger heads and longer shafts make it easier for players to drive balls a longer distance. The overblown drivers of today are totally superior to earlier models, even models less than a decade earlier. This is one of the major reasons that players of different time periods should be incomparable because distance capabilities are totally different. On the other hand overblown drivers make the game more exiting and the sport has become more popular (Thomas). Lastly, technology has not only changed player capabilities, but the sport itself. It has become obvious the game of golf has changed immensely since it began hundreds of years ago. Golf balls used to be hit of mounds of dirt on your first shot, now we have tees, what’s next? Golf course architects believe there should be “a line drawn in the sand soon” – at least for tournament golf – or technology could render some courses obsolete (“Cyber Golf”). Golf courses that were made fifty or more years ago were made for a different age. For example St. Andrews golf course is a PGA golf course that is thought to date back more than one hundred years. The average score shot on the golf course and the overall handicap goes down every year due to an increase in technology. Capabilities of players were no thought to be at the level it is at now. For instance, in the recent U.S. Open players were hitting with two irons on a 490-yard hole – not the driver and long iron intended (“Cyber Golf”). The sport of golf is now able to be played well with seventy year old men due to the flexibility and ease that new space age golf clubs have. It is because of this that many people are beginning to argue against golf even being a sport. For example Tom Watson is a 60 year old man who is still competitive in the sport of golf. He was runner up in this year’s British Open. Due to the technology in clubs and balls, he was still able to drive the ball far enough to compete with the best of the best. Overall golf is a sport that has much controversy, and will see much change in the future. In conclusion, Technology has evolved in the sport of golf since it began and has made the sport much easier, because it has completely changed the skill level in golfers and what they are capable of, making many golfers incomparable. Technology has evolved in golf balls, clubs, tees, and even courses. Golfers who were good with the wood clubs of fifty years ago, could be the tiger woods of today if they had the same technology available. In the end it is not fair to say one golfer is better than another, or that new technology is unfair. Instead we should just enjoy the sport for what it is, a great game.